Sorry, I can't figure out how to use the reply with quote thingy..., but George Sensei said:

"But what often happens is that the more experience students have, the more they are insecure about admitting that there is something they don't know or understand. If some does something differently, they dismiss it so that they can continue to be important. This is absolutely the worst when those people eventually become teachers."

Ain't that the truth, George sensei! Man! As mentioned in another thread at another time, the more I train the less I know. I will assume that this feeling doesn't abate with experience and I will hope that, as Gleason sensei puts it so well, experience of the hara will cultivate trust in oneself to apply the correct technique..., whenever. (I'm paraphrasing Gleason sensei of course.)

The hardest battle for intermediate and advanced students (teachers included) is to not get trapped by that damn ego. This oft said truism manifests itself when you cling to what you know and feel defence is needed when confonted with something that is simply..., different. A different take or style is, in a general sense, neither better nor worse than ones own and, quite frankly, there is room enough in Aikido for all that is out there.